After organizing and hosting NEU CUP in TRNC, Near East University Women’s Basketball Team competed in the 9th Erciyes Cup, which is the most significant preliminary preparation tournament for Turkey Cup elimination matches.

According to the press release from the Directorate of Press & Public Relations Office of NEU, the 9th Erciyes Cup took place in Kayseri and lasted three days. On the first day of the tournament, NEU played against Adana Aski and won the match with a score of 90-89. On the second day, AGU Kayseri defeated NEU with a score of 80-76. On the final day of the tournament NEU played with Mersin Metropolitan Municipality and won the match with a net score of 82-72. Showing a great performance with 31 pts, 10 rebounds and 1 assist, Alyssa Thomas was nominated as the most valuable player (MVP) of the match that took place between NEU and Mersin Metropolitan Municipality.

New transfers have harmonized with the team in a short time

NEU’s new transfers from WNBA have joined the team recently. During the tournament, it was observed that the new transfers adapted themselves and exhibited great performances. Alyssa Thomas drew attention as a scorer player. Playing in the matches that took place on October 3 and 4, Ana Dabovic stood out with her high basketball fundamentality and a good long range shooter with the capacity to get inside the paint and drive to the basket. Playing in all matches of the tournament, Kelsey Bone with her high ability in dominating underneath the basket and Tiffany Hayes with her tight defense performance made a strong impression.

Erhan Ayaz: We have completed all preparations for the elimination group matches of Turkey Cup, we will play to win

Delivering a statement after the tournament, Erhan Ayaz, General Manager of NEU Women’s Basketball Team, said that the 9th Erciyes Cup was the most important preliminary tournament for them. “For the first time, all the players of the team had the opportunity to play together in preseason matches. We competed in the 9th Erciyes Cup as a full team. We had the opportunity to see and evaluate the performances of our player. We are satisfied with the performances and the basketball fundamentality that our new transfers as well as other players exhibited in this tournament. We have seen clearly how well our new foreign transfers from WNBA adapted themselves to the team. The team played in cohesion with team spirit and this is very promising for the future matches. We have completed all our preparations for the elimination group matches and we are heading to Samsun today. We will combat with all our capacity and potential to be eligible for the playoff matches of Turkey Cup” said he.

2015-2016 Season WBSL Turkey Cup Elimination Group matches will take place in Samsun on October 8-11, 2015. 18 teams of Turkish Women’s Basketball League will compete in 3 separate sports halls in 3 groups (A,B,C) to be amongst the top to play the playoff matches. Competing in Group A, the Near East University Women’s Basketball Team will play its first match with Mersin Metropolitan Municipality on Thursday October 8, 2015.